Saturday night, I was completely alone in the parking area and I did not encounter anyone else during my Sunday morning sunrise shoot. I had expected more visitors, since it was a weekend. I’m guessing there were visitors and campers in the official south parking area.
I went to the area east of the big, prominent hoodoo that is immediately visible in the distance as one begins the hike into the northern portion of Bisti from the north parking area for sunrise photography the second morning of my May visit to Bisti. This large hoodoo on a hilltop is visible from a long distance and is useful as a navigation aid.
Pre-sunrise at one of the north Bisti predominate hoodoo landmarks. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 55mm, f/16, 6.0s, ISO 64.
There was good light this morning, as I shot with my 24-70mm lens.
North Bisti Wilderness Sunrise Silhouette. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/16, 0.5s, ISO 64.One of the predominate north Bisti landmarks at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 30mm, f/16, 0.5s, ISO 64.
A shot a sequence of these features as the sun rose, progressively illuminating the hillside.
One of the predominate north Bisti Hoodoos and hillside at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 28mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64.A predominate north Bisti Hoodoo and hillside at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 28mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64.
Note that the bottom photo is from a slightly different angle, as I had moved around shooting other features as the sun rose higher in the sky, and I did not get back to exactly the same composition.
A view towards the west between two tall features. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 27mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64.A north Bisti bluff at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64.North Bisti rock features and sky at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/16, 1/25s, ISO 64.
The laminar clouds added considerable interest to the sky as the sun rose.
North Bisti features and sunrise sky. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/16, 1/15s, ISO 64.A north Bisti bluff with pedestal and sky at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 60mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64.A north Bisti Pedestal and Bluff at Sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 60mm, f/16, 1/25s, ISO 64.
After the best early morning light, I explored around this area looking for interesting features to shoot in the early morning light before it got too harsh. A few photos from that time will be included in a subsequent post.
The evening of the fifth day in Bisti, my son and I decided to shoot sunset photos in an area, which we think is on BLM land. At least we know it is outside the Bisti Wilderness proper area. It is an area that we accessed via a short spur road off of the road to the unofficial parking area for Bisti North parking.
It was a cloudy day without great sunset light, so I converted the shots presented in this post to monochrome.
A cloud covered scene near Bisti North. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 60mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
The photo above is my favorite from this shoot. There are dramatic clouds and hints of rain falling from the clouds, interesting rocks in the foreground and middle ground.
A cloudy sky at sunset and Bisti rock forms. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 50mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
We had spotted this little natural bridge or window on an earlier scout of this area.
Cloudy sky near sunset and Bisti Rock Forms. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 28mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
And another little window shot that I like better than the previous one, possibly because of the more dramatic clouds and the more interesting foreground.
Cloudy Sky over Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 34mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
The shot above is what I consider a minimalistic shot. The objects in the photo are limited, but there are dramatic clouds, interesting geologic features and multiple leading lines in the barren foreground, which hints at the vast openness of this area.
Cloudy Sunset Sky and Bisti Rock Forms. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 28mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
The shot above is another minimalistic shot of the same basic features as in the previous shot, but with a different point of view. In this case I have emphasized the broad area around the narrow drainage patterns that are acting as leading lines into the photo with the clouds adding drama to the scene.
Cloudy sky over rock forms in the BLM area to the southwest of the unofficial North Bisti parking area. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I like the multiple tiers in the rock formations in this photo with the dramatic cloud backdrop.
Bearded Lizard like feature in the BLM area to the southwest of the unofficial North Bisti parking area. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 0.6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
This rock feature looks like a bearded lizard to me, hence the title of the photo. I’ve added a lens vignette, shifting it to the left to focus on the “head” of the lizard or whatever imaginary creature one might think this looks like.
Black and white turtle or other creature like hoodoo in the BLM area to the southwest of the unofficial North Bisti parking area. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 35mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
This hoodoo reminds me of a large turtle, but one might imagine it as some other exotic or alien creature.
Cloudy sunset over the BLM area to the southwest of the unofficial North Bisti parking area. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 26mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
This photo does not have the greatest depth of field, but I still like it. I used the flat rock wings or hoodoos running diagonally from bottom left towards the upper right to lead the viewers eye into the photo towards the feature on the horizon in the upper right. I wish I could find these dramatic clouds on nice sunny sunset or sunrise shoots, while still allowing for great light on the photo subjects.
This wraps up the highlights of day 5 sunset shooting in the great vastness of one of New Mexico’s wonderful desert areas.
Arising early on September 20, after coffee and a light breakfast, I set out in the Sportsmobile to select an advantageous spot for early morning photos along Owl Creek Pass Road just a short distance from my campsite. I drove back and forth along one particular interval on the road, before picking what looked like a suitable place, gathered my selected gear for the morning shoot and set out across an open range pasture towards the drainage between the pasture and the mountains to the east.
It was a very cloudy morning, after a rainy night, but not completely overcast as most of the previous day had been and the rain was gone, so I had some hope of getting some early morning light highlighting the mountainsides nearby. It was a bit dicey, as all of the clouds were moving towards the light from the sun, which was still hidden behind a mountainside to the east of the roadway.
As I walked across the open range pasture, I recalled the statement credited to Ansel Adams, “the secret to getting a good photograph is knowing where to stand”. Photographers are always going to extremes to find the best place to stand and sometimes get into uncomfortable or precarious positions in doing so. This morning I noted that a corollary to Adam’s statement had to be “knowing where not to stand”, as I carefully selected each step to avoid the numerous cow patties in the pasture. There were so many that I had to be very careful, not only where I stepped, but where I set up the tripod to avoid sticking one of its legs into a cow patty.
I wandered around in the pasture, looking for various possibilities for suitable places from which to shoot. The broad drainage area between the mountainside to the west and the pasture to the east of it was filled with scrubby vegetation, which would make for a messy foreground, no matter where I stood with my 14-24mm wide angle lens. There was no time to scout any other area prior to sunrise, so I had to make the best of this area.
Pre-sunrise test shot. The clouds are adding drama to the sky, but might prevent early morning light on the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.The clouds moving to the east might totally obstruct the early morning sun rays. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64.Pre-sunrise, early morning clouds and mist or campfire smoke in the valley. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 64.It is getting close to sunrise and the clouds are still a major concern. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64.Nice clouds, but I am becoming more concerned about getting good early morning light on the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64.Pre-sunrise. I kept seeing either mist rising or camp fire smoke wafting in the valley, but I was never ready to shoot, when it looked the best. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 64.A crop of the previous shot, better showing the mist or campfire smoke in the valley.Surprise! Even with the heavy clouds, sunlight is beginning to highlight the mountainside! Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.A crop of the previous shot.I’m liking the clouds thinning and the ribbon of light highlighting portions of the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.A crop of a photo very much the same as the previous one, leaving the dramatic sky and emphasizing the diagonal mountainside slope with the streak of light along it.Rotating to the left, I get this view with a thin ribbon of light along the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.A crop of the previous shot, emphasizing the clouds and the thin ribbon of light along the mountainside.With the light now highlighting the vegetation in the wash, I had to get a shot with the mud splattered Sportsmobile in the foreground. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.This is entirely about the clouds sweeping overhead. I just happened to note that the thinning clouds, revealing the blue sky background, made the sky look very attractive. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640.
This was, perhaps not the best morning nor the best location for sunrise shots, but the views were quite good, even though I might not have captured the scenes as well as I would have liked.
Part 2 of this post will continue with mid-morning shots and experimentation with tilt/shift lenses.
Yankee Boy Basin, located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Ouray, Colorado, is accessible via a 4 wheel drive road. My oldest son, who provided the 4×4 Jeep, and I spent several early morning and evenings in the basin, since it was a relatively easy place for us to get to and there were multiple photography opportunities in the area.
Yankee Boy Basin
It is best to have a high clearance vehicle with skid plates and good off road tires before attempting to travel this road. If the road is not wet, it might be possible for a high clearance vehicle equipped with only stock tires and an experienced driver to make it up the road. On one of our outings there, a thunderstorm came up at our destination, so we went back down to a safer place to wait out the storm. We encountered a young man in a Subaru Outback, who was planning to make the trip up the 4×4 road. His vehicle had stock tires and no skid plates. My son, who has some 4 wheel drive road experience and has been up this road a number of times, advised him not to try the road with his vehicle; however, he told him that he could follow us, if he liked, and at least he would have someone nearby in case he had difficulty. He tried to follow us up the road, but very soon got to a point where his tires could not get sufficient traction on the wet rocks and he turned around.
We ended up aborting one of our planned evening shoots due to a continuing storm. We had hoped to get gorgeous views with clouds and mountainsides illuminated with the late evening light as often happens after a storm; but the storm and sky showed no signs of clearing, so we retreated to our campsites, where we were treated to sky, clouds and a double rainbow; but I only had time to shoot a few iPhone photos before these all faded away.
A view from Ridgeway State Park, Colorado, after an early evening rain.This is the kind of sky we had hoped to see during our aborted Yankee Boy Basin evening photo shoot.
Yankee Boy Basin is a picturesque setting and can be covered with wildflowers in the early summer months. There were some wildflowers remaining during our visit in late July, but they were mostly past their peak bloom.
Early morning view in Yankee Boy Basin
The 4 wheel drive road follows a stream much of the way and there are a number of waterfalls and lovely cascades along the way.
Early morning light above Sneffles CreekEarly morning in Yankee Boy BasinSneffels Creek WaterfallEarly morning light in Yankee Boy Basin along Sneffels CreekYankee Boy Basin WaterfallYankee Boy Basin WaterfallEarly morning in Yankee Boy BasinSneffels Creek CascadeSneffels Creek Waterfall/CascadeClose up view of a portion of a waterfall on Sneffels CreekClose up view of one of the Yankee Boy Basin waterfalls
At the end of the 4 wheel drive road is a small lake surrounded by mountain peaks. A popular hiking trail begins at the end of the 4 wheel road that takes one to Mount Sneffels, 14,158 feet high mountain, which many hikers like to bag.
The elevation everywhere in this area is high enough that one not used to it might have some difficulty with the thin air. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noted that higher elevations are more of a problem, but so far I’ve not had altitude sickness. I can move around quite well at altitude, as long as I am not carrying a load; but as soon as I pick up a loaded day pack and camera gear, the effort to walk up an incline becomes noticeable, requiring frequent stops to catch my breath. I’m sure that my normal sea level life adds to the altitude effect.
One of the fun things about such outings as this is meeting other people with similar interest. On our first morning in the basin, we chatted with the only other person there, who was also into photography and from the same metropolitan area as me.
I hope that you enjoy this post and I welcome your comments and suggestions.
